Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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215. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he is taking in response to concerns from trustees of a sporting organisation regarding registering with the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21342/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Anti-money laundering legislation requires each EU Member State to establish a Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts (CRBOT). The purpose of the Register is to help prevent money laundering and terrorist financing by improving transparency on who ultimately owns and controls Irish trusts. Trustees have a legal obligation to register details of relevant trusts and their beneficial owners on the CRBOT portal, which is administered by Revenue.

Irish sporting organisations, where not incorporated, will usually have a trust structure to hold assets, such as a bank account. This trust is commonly created by the organisation’s constitution. For sporting clubs and associations, it is the members of the unincorporated body who are the beneficial owners of the trust.

Regulation 3(6) of Statutory Instrument No. 194 of 2021 (www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2021/si/194/made/en/print) provides for reduced filing requirements for certain sporting bodies, removing the requirement for all beneficial owners to register on the CRBOT. The legislation stipulates that club trustees, the committee or other governing body and any other individual who has control over the trust, register on the CRBOT.

At the time of putting in place the necessary legislation, the Department of Finance recognised the fact that the trusts provisions of the anti-money laundering Directive would be particularly onerous for Ireland and many of the trusts structures, including sports clubs, that exist here. Therefore the Department worked to ensure, in so far as possible, that the obligations introduced were proportionate to the aims of the Directive. Extensive engagement took place with the Attorney General and the European Commission at the time. The proportionate approach which resulted included the reduced filing requirements for certain sporting bodies outlined above.

The beneficial ownership information to be provided includes personal information such as name, nationality, address, date of birth and PPSN. Any information registered on the CRBOT is only accessible by the club trustees and by designated persons and competent authorities in limited circumstances. Members of the public can access restricted information on the CRBOT when they can demonstrate a legitimate interest that they are engaged in the prevention, detection or investigation of money laundering or terrorist financing offences; and the subject of the access request is connected with persons convicted of an associated offence or holds assets in a high-risk third country. Any request for access by a member of the public is required to be accompanied by information and documents demonstrating a right of access.

Negotiations are currently underway on a package of revised EU anti-money laundering legislation. As part of this process, Irish officials are working to ensure that the equivalent obligations in the new legislation will be proportionate to the aims and will have due regard to Ireland’s situation, where trusts are used for a wide variety of purposes.

Further details about the CRBOT are available on the Revenue website at: www.revenue.ie/en/crbot/index.aspx. Should the Deputy require further clarification in respect of the CRBOT or a specific sporting organisation or Trust, the Trust Register team can be contacted at trustregister@revenue.ie.